UNDP and Japan agree to expand support for restoring access to electricity in Syria

Apr 15, 2016

photo: Freyal Morales/UNDP

New York - The United Nations Development Programme’s Regional Bureau for Arab States and the Government of Japan signed today a US$11.5 million agreement to expand efforts to restore reliable electricity to Syrian communities affected by the crisis in Syria. The one-year agreement will be implemented by UNDP Syria and builds on ongoing support by the Government of Japan for UNDP’s efforts to reach the most vulnerable people across the war-torn country which has been in crisis since 2011.

Since the onset of crisis five years ago many aspects of Syria’s civilian infrastructure have been devastated, including the electricity sector. Today on average Syrians have access to electricity for two to six hours a day. As the crisis continues, electricity generation and distribution is deteriorating further due to ongoing hostilities, shortages of spare parts and lapses in maintenance.

Through this new project phase, UNDP’s Syria Country Office and Japan will support the rehabilitation of two plants – Al Zara and Banias – in Hama and Tartous Governorates, respectively, addressing immediate humanitarian needs by improving power generation and distribution in the most affected areas of the country.

This project phase builds on joint work by UNDP and Japan in 2015 which emergency spare parts to service to Jandar power plant in Homs Governorate, which is now generating approximately 25 per cent of the country’s electricity supply. Together the two phases aim to restore approximately half of the country’s electricity needs.

The project is part of the overall work of UNDP’s Regional Bureua for Arab States and Syria Country Office which seeks to complement the on-going humanitarian effort in Syria while focusing on support to livelihoods and jobs, the rehabilitation of basic community infrastructure, improved access to social services, and removal of debris and solid waste. UNDP is currently the UN Cluster leader in Syria for the Cluster on Early Recovery and Livelihoods. Since 2014 UNDP has reached 4.5 million beneficiaries in Syria either directly or indirectly, and stands ready to scale-up its support should conditions allow.

UNDP’s programme in Syria is part of its broader support across the Arab States region, led by the Regional Bureau for Arab States at a time when several countries are coping with tremendous crises and the needs for resilience and new pathways to sustainable development have never been greater.